Chelsea were forced to rue defensive mishaps yet again in the Champions League as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Atalanta.
Enzo Maresca named Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile in his starting side in Italy, but replaced the former for Wesley Fofana after his early yellow card.
The Frenchman was forced off with a gruesome eye injury, although Chelsea fans were not happy to see Tosin Adarabioyo come onto the pitch late in the game, with Reece James and Malo Gusto in midfield.
Chelsea need to make room before they can sign another centre-back. Who are you getting rid of?
Levi Colwill is definitely untouchable ❌
Chelsea’s list of first-team centre-backs
- Levi Colwill
- Wesley Fofana
- Trevoh Chalobah
- Benoit Badiashile
- Tosin Adarabioyo
- Josh Acheampong
The Blues had already been pegged back to 1-1 at this point, before a strange moment which allowed Charles De Keteleare to give Atalanta the lead.
Benoit Badiashile blamed for letting down Marc Cucurella during Chelsea vs Atalanta
De Keteleare admitted he didn’t know why he had so much space, and Steve Sidwell believes Marc Cucurella was let down by Benoit Badiashile when closing down the attacker.
He told TNT Sports: “Cucurella can’t engage, so he’s saying to Badiashile ‘come over’. At some point, Badiashile has to come over and stop that shot. You can’t let players shoot when you’re three yards away from them.”
Cucurella was forced to hold his position, with the threat of former Blue Davide Zappacosta on the outside, leaving the blame with the Frenchman alongside him.
Maresca is struggling to land on a central defensive partnership that is able to provide regular security in front of Robert Sanchez, who has shown individual improvement over the last 12 months.
Maresca struggling with rotation at Chelsea
Given the quick turnaround after the Club World Cup, it was clear that the Blues boss was going to have to rotate his side heavily in the new season.
No club have made more changes than Chelsea to their starting XI this season, but this is hurting Maresca’s side now at a crucial stage of the campaign.
All of the rotation is seeing players crop up in positions that they are not familiar with. Both Gusto and James were playing in midfield last night, with Josh Acheampong at right-back despite the majority of his minutes being at centre-back.
The games are going to keep coming thick and fast at Stamford Bridge, but the Italian needs to find a more regular solution to his team selection woes quickly to avoid a further collapse this month.
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